Help First time Android owner/user. Need some advice.

[SSBrolly]

Hey guys,

Like the title says I just got my first Android phone here with this Mytouch 4g. Believe it or not I've been using the Iphone 3g since the day it came out. It finally semi-crapped out on me here in China and so I traded it in along with roughly 100$ USD and viola, Mytouch 4g. Is it real? Well that's a good question. I don't know. Of course they said so but that's not worth much. If it is a a fake it's a very good quality so I doubt it.

Anyways! I've been trying to get used to everything. Some things I've been liking others not so much just yet. Going to take some getting used to. I got the phone and it has Android 2.3.3 on it and HTC sense 3.0?

I tried seeing if there were any updates I could get through just check for updates through software updates but it does nothing. My question is what are some of the first things you guys suggest I do with this thing. Such as updating and rooting etc? I read Android 4.1 just came out. What version do you guys find works best with this phone? My battery drains like crazy. I can't last a day with moderate use. And they don't even have 3g over here. The guy who I bought it off didn't suggest I upgrade it for whatever reason but he said I could. And the warranty would still be good. But 'upgrading' seems to be a loose term with androids. Do most people get just plain pure upgrades? Seems to be a lot of customizations. Sorry for the newb questions I'm just pretty confused but all this.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

 

[Rush]

Hi SSBrolly..

Welcome to Android Forums. You'll find information, tips, and get the best help over here @ your device's support forum.

Thread moved. Cheers!

 

[!on]

Did you jailbreak the iphone? If so, you might want to root. I only ask as probabbly most people aren't bothered about this.

Not getting updates is a common thing in most phones, usually down to the carrier. An iphone gets updates just like ipods or other apple computers, so that's a plus point for apple .

Those of us who root do so for the apps & tweaks that require it. Things like overclocking / undervolting, install of recovery system, other apps that require adminstrator permissions (seriously, do we buy computers without this? wtf!), or to install custom roms due to the lack of forth coming updates.

The point you make about not being in a 3g area, is your phone still polling for 3g? There are widgets that let you quickly turn on / off 3g. Other widgets let you control screen brightness beyond the system defaults (you guessed it, these things require root). Some custom roms have recovery system built in, where you can do nandroid backup & restore of your rom, or a different one, install apps by flashable zip, clear caches etc... also some custom roms also include abilty to change clock & voltage settings for your liking. These are usually rooted roms, but you'll need to be rooted first to install these.

 

[tukatz]

You may find that Juice Defender helps with battery life.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid.juicedefender&hl=en
I have never rooted mine and have been happy with it. There are a ton of apps available, and most of them are free or have free versions. The approach I have taken is to search on the Internet when I am looking for an app. For example I Googled android scanner and found CamScanner - a free app that you can use to scan documents and convert them to PDFs or JPGs.
Good luck with your MT4G.

 

[SSBrolly]

Did you jailbreak the iphone? If so, you might want to root. I only ask as probabbly most people aren't bothered about this.

Not getting updates is a common thing in most phones, usually down to the carrier. An iphone gets updates just like ipods or other apple computers, so that's a plus point for apple .

Those of us who root do so for the apps & tweaks that require it. Things like overclocking / undervolting, install of recovery system, other apps that require adminstrator permissions (seriously, do we buy computers without this? wtf!), or to install custom roms due to the lack of forth coming updates.

The point you make about not being in a 3g area, is your phone still polling for 3g? There are widgets that let you quickly turn on / off 3g. Other widgets let you control screen brightness beyond the system defaults (you guessed it, these things require root). Some custom roms have recovery system built in, where you can do nandroid backup & restore of your rom, or a different one, install apps by flashable zip, clear caches etc... also some custom roms also include abilty to change clock & voltage settings for your liking. These are usually rooted roms, but you'll need to be rooted first to install these.

Hey man, thanks for all the feedback.

Ya I jailbreaked my iphone. Even had to unlock when I came to China here and that was a huge pain.

So I was curious and installed an app called 'root checker' and it tells me my phone is already rooted. Mostly I just want to update this thing. Having access to all the apps sounds like something I want too. I just want a pretty clean version. This one has a bunch of chinese apps on it I can't install and always seem to be running in the background too. I actually haven't even been using any mobile data and it still runs out of battery quickly, but I when I do I'll have to make sure it's not looking for 3g like you said.

So what do you suggest I do? What version of android are you running or custom rom? And which would you suggest I get?

Thanks again